:: F2 Freelance Photographer ::

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Deborah Benbrook

When Deborah Benbrook found herself unemployed in 2005, she discovered a way to make money from photography. With her previous career in banking and marketing, she used her business head to break into a different market

“I went into stockbroking before working in a bank for 16 years doing various roles, including marketing, so I was shocked to find myself redundant in November 2005. I thought it was a job for life and got too comfortable with my regular salary at the end of the month. “I grew up in Leeds and still live there.

"Photography was a hobby in my teens, and I owned a point and press film camera, which was all I could afford at the time. I’ve always liked to explore the country and the outdoors, which stems from family holidays when I was younger, so when I have spare time I go walking and that’s where the landscapes come in.

Life changing

“When I was made redundant I decided to take a three week holiday in the Maldives. While there I met two photographers called the Jacobs brothers, who’d been taking stock photography for 18 years, and were there shooting for new stock. We got chatting and they told me about the stock library market. “I’m a great believer in fate and it seemed destined that I should go on holiday, meet these two men and be inspired to take my own photography forward. My husband was with me and we talked about me pursuing it. He was supportive, and said, ‘Go for it. You’ve got the redundancy money, so that’ll help with everything at the moment and if this is what you want to do, you should.’“So I bought an Canon EOS 5D and set about learning how to use it. From the beginning I took Raw images and used Canon’s software to convert them to Tiffs for PhotoShop, and I’m currently learning Capture 1 software to ease up my work flow process. “I completely digital, having started after the film generation. I didn’t consider film, and have never thought to have a darkroom, so it made sense to go straight to digital. I hoped that by investing in the 5D and digital processing, I’d future proof my investment for a few years.

The world of stock

“I made my decision to do photography seriously in 2006, and although I went out and bought the camera immediately, unforeseen family issues meant that I didn’t get underway until 2007. The first stock libraries I approached in the February of that year were iStock and Alamy. They refused my submissions due to over-sharpness and noise, but undeterred I kept going with a second and third upload in as many months. It’s in my nature to keep striving, so when I was rejected it brought out the stubborn fighter in me. It’s very time consuming so I knew by my drive that I wasn’t going to be beaten easily.

“In 12 months I have 6271 images, in 14 libraries and have sold 2619. In some cases an image may sell over 100 times, whereas other may not sell at all. There is little consistency and tomorrow I might sell one that’s never sold before. It can be baffling at times though, as even with over a thousand images on Alamy, I’ve yet to sell one.

Microstock

“Microstock basically pay you peanuts, which may not suit everyone, but my view is that it’s better than having them redundant on my hard-drive. If you do all of the work once on an image, you rarely go back to make changes. As it’s royalty free, you may as well give it to everybody in the hope that they’ll sell it for you. Microstock might only get you a pound an image, but if you sell two or three hundred a month, you’re making money without doing anything.

“Perhaps my approach to libraries is different from other photographers, because I’m out to make a living from it whichever way I can. I give images to everybody and I don’t care who buys and sells them, as long as I get paid for their use.

Extra income

“I sell fine art prints to consumers through my website, and I go to craft and farmers markets. Some markets only allow food, but at the ones where crafts are welcomed, the clientele are the kind who will buy a picture along with the organic foodstuffs. “I list events on my site so that customers know where I’ll be each month, and people come and find me, which has helped to build a good customer base in 12 months.

“I sell A4 mounts with a 75 print run for £15; two A3 mounts with a 96 print run for £20; and a 10VA (?) print for £25. Some months are better than others but in the last year I’ve sold over 400 pictures in various sizes.

“The Seljanda Foss Waterfall in Iceland is the best seller, which I think is because it’s classic wildness which can fit into all kinds of homes. I’ve found that pictures of peoples’ locality tend not to sell so well. I have images of York Minster and did some events there, but didn’t sell any. I do have an image of Whitby harbour which sells well, as does a cobbled road – Henrietta Street – next to Whitby Abbey, and one of Whitby Pier.

Technical and practice

“I’m now comfortable with my 5D, and have mastered shutter speeds, depths of field and filters, through practice. I use a Velbon tripod, which is small and light and fits in my suitcase, but I’ve just recently invested in a sturdier Manfrotto as well.

“I read a lot of reviews and draw my own conclusions. Before I bought my camera I read comparison reviews for Canon and Nikon, and I feel that you need to thoroughly research a product before you make the investment.

“I use Excel to list every image that’s out there, and from it I can tell which ones were accepted or rejected by each agency/library. A separate sheet tells me which ones have sold through which library and how many times. It gives me the totals so I can instantly see that I sell more through iStock than anybody else, but they only accept 50% of submissions, whereas another library accepts 90%. It’s quite time consuming to set up because of the amount of information, but now it’s done I just add to it and it works everything out for me.

Reality

“The turnover is not a great deal but I’m in the process of setting up a commercial and architectural side to the business, for which I’ve bought the domain. I’ll still do stock because it’s there and ticking over, and I’ll do some craft stalls, but after 12 months of effort, I personally don’t get enough return from that side. I need more coming in as I spent £5000 - around 50% of my income - booking stalls.“In terms of selling your work to the public: get a credit card machine. The first event I ever did, I didn’t have one and put up limited edition canvas prints for £250 and people were walking through the door with £50 in their pocket, not a cash machine in sight and no means of paying for them.

“Be organised and keep records – it will benefit you in the long run. It also helps to have some marketing knowledge, and I’ve put elements of my marketing diploma into practice.

“I’ve been to Goa this year and I’m going back because I didn’t get all the images I wanted. I’m constantly on the look out for new stock libraries and recommend becoming a member of the Bureau of Freelance Photographers, as they send out a newsletter each month with updates on new stock libraries, which has led to me joining a further 5 in the last few months.

www.lucidps.co.ukwww.deborahbenbrook.co.uk

Best selling images at local craft markets:

IMG_6388 Seljalandsfoss waterfall Iceland (12 prints sold)

IMG_6642 Gulfoss waterfall Iceland (10 prints sold) IMG_5831 Blue iceberg Iceland (13 prints sold) IMG_4802 Firesky Iceland (14 prints sold) p.s. I haven’t used a filter on this as I didn’t own one and I’ve not boosted the saturation either – this is how it was!

Best selling images through stock libraries:

IMG_7633 Samburu women & children (sold 118 times) taken specifically for stock and at an angle so it didn’t need a model release form

IMG_7661 African jewellery (sold 109 times)

IMG_5838 Icebergs Iceland (sold 107 times)

IMG_1361 Rapeseed (sold 98 times)